


Mac & Charlie: Roller Skating :)

by Masterofkarate



Category: It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia
Genre: Best Friends, Childhood Friends, Childhood Memories, Fluff, Holding Hands, M/M, Pre-Canon, not very shippy b/c they are actually children, roller skating, these dudes both think so highly of each other it's wholesome
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-04
Updated: 2020-01-04
Packaged: 2021-02-27 13:41:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,427
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22108033
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Masterofkarate/pseuds/Masterofkarate
Summary: Charlie teaching Mac how to roller skate in childhood! This is just absolutely fluffy and soft & sweet.(this should probably be part of my charmac childhood fic, but it's inspired by some wonderful art that I love @ emiliemaria.tumblr.com  -- I wanted to keep it in its own fic so that Emilie got the credit deserved. a link to the wonderful art is in the notes!)ps the rating is general audience, there is a lil bit of cursing, but like if u watch sunny.... u know?
Relationships: Charlie Kelly & Mac McDonald, Charlie Kelly/Mac McDonald
Comments: 4
Kudos: 25





	Mac & Charlie: Roller Skating :)

**Author's Note:**

> the lovely art that inspired this: 
> 
> https://emiliemaria.tumblr.com/post/186766244019/charlie-teaching-mac-how-to-roller-skate#note-container

After Charlie rapped his fist quickly against Mac’s front door, he slid back, grinning at the smoothness of his gliding, despite the unevenness of the wooden panels of the porch. It was close enough to gliding. He didn’t like the knee pads and elbow pads his mom had bought him before he even got the skates (he used to have to wear them at the playground before he and Mac started going alone), but she would have flipped if he came home in skates without wearing the protective padding. Still, there was a freedom with the floating feelings the wheels on his feet gave him. Mac was at the door just a minute later in a stained t-shirt and ratty cotton pajama pants, his hair sticking up completely, eyes squinting.

“Hey,” Mac said with a yawn, bringing his hand to his face as if rubbing the sleepiness away. “What’s up?”

“Get that tired look off your face and go grab your skates!” Charlie said with a chipper grin.

“What?” Mac asked, clearly fighting off another yawn. “Dude it’s like nine in the morning.”

Charlie pointed down at his feet and said, “Well I found these bad boys in the trash last night and I wanna break them in!”

“Dude, you don’t even know how to skate.”

“I do too, I'm a natural! I skated all the way here!” Charlie argued. He slid forward, closer to the door and grabbed Mac’s shoulder, “Go. Get. Your. Skates.”

Mac rolled his eyes and answered, “Fine, but I just woke up. Gimmie a minute to change.”

“Cool, let me-”

“Wait out here, my mom’s pissed you woke her up knocking.”

Charlie rolled his eyes and slid backwards. He turned around and clung onto the railing as he took careful steps down. He went forwards a few feet, reveling in the way his body jumped up just so with each crack in the concrete. With clunky steps, he turned around and glided back towards Mac’s house. He stopped himself on the railing at the bottom of the steps. He pushed himself back and forward by keeping his hands around the railing. When the door opened, he looked up towards Mac with a grin. 

“Let’s go!” Charlie shouted, gliding backwards and clapping his hands together. Mac had the laces tied, skates slung over his shoulder, wearing sneakers.

“Alright, alright, I’m coming,” Mac grumbled. 

Charlie figured he was still sleepy, but he noticed the sneakers on Mac’s feet.

“C’mon, Mac!” Charlie said, he did his best to make his voice booming, not whiny. He didn’t like the squeakiness his voice got when he was frustrated, “Put the skates on! I don’t wanna walk around, I wanna celebrate my cool new skates by skating with you.”

“Fine, whatever,” Mac huffed. He flopped down on his front step and pulled his sneakers off, taking his time as he pulled on and laced up the skates.

As soon as he stood, Charlie knew exactly why Mac was so hesitant. 

“Mac,” Charlie said, hands on his hips, “Do you not know how to skate?”

“What? Of course I know how to skate!” Mac said, despite clinging onto the railing with one hand, his other hand reached out to catch his balance, and still his legs seemed wobbly, feet refusing to sit still. 

“You totally don’t,” Charlie said, he laughed, but it wasn’t meant to be mean. It just seemed so funny that Mac got skates for Christmas over a year ago and didn’t know how to skate in them, but Charlie had picked the skill up since he found them last night. 

“Shut up, I do know how to skate, damn it!” Mac shouted.

“Dude, it’s cool!” Charlie said, he reached out and grabbed Mac’s outreached hand. “It doesn’t matter, I can help you, c’mon.”

“No,” Mac grumbled, he tugged his hand away roughly and tumbled back onto the steps with a grunt. 

  
Charlie angled his face down to peer at Mac with as much resolve as possible. He crossed his arms and repeated, "Come on, Mac. I'm gonna help you!"

Mac groaned and stood up slowly, holding tightly onto the railing. Charlie smiled with pride and reached out for Mac's hand.

"Do you got any knee pads? I don't want you to get mad and quit if you fall."

"No," Mac mumbled. He usually would've argued against knee pads, but he knew Charlie was right.

"Okay, let's grab the old ones at my house."

“Fine, whatever,” Mac huffed. 

Charlie gripped both of hands around one of Mac's forearms. More than teaching Mac, he was slowly tugging him along the sidewalk as he mumbled rare instructions. He was more concerned about getting Mac to his house safely than he was teaching him at this point. He decided to worry about teaching him once he was padded up securely.

They went inside and took off their skates, running down to the basement to search for the elbow and knee pads. They avoided Bonnie, who was still passed out in her bed, and thankfully his uncle was gone for the day. They got themselves ready quickly. Once suited and laced up and on the pavement again, Charlie instinctively grabbed Mac's immediately. 

"Ready?" Charlie asked.

"I've been skating this whole time," Mac grumbled.

"Not really, I've been pulling you. And you're  _ heavy! _ "

"It's all muscle!"

"Well sure not balance muscles!"

"That's not a thing!"

Charlie laughed fondly and shrugged, "Worth a try. C'mon dude. Time to skate for real. No more teeny steps."

"Okay," Mac said. Charlie was still clinging to his arm, so he knew he wouldn't fall. Confidently, Mac followed Charlie's stride. Still, a few minutes of bouncing and wobbling on the cracked sidewalk, he groaned loudly.

“Dude, c’mon, you’ve almost got it!” Charlie lied, squeezing Mac’s arm gently.

“No, this friggin’ sucks, why are we even doing this?” Mac grunted.

“C’mon, it’ll be fun when you  _ do  _ get it!” Charlie said. He turned to skate backwards, grabbing both of Mac’s hands, pulling him forward as Charlie went backwards. “Let’s go to the empty lot toward Federal, that’ll be easier to skate on.”

“This is crap, Charlie!” Mac huffed, though he kept holding Charlie’s hands, letting himself be pulled. “How come you can skate so easy even when it’s bumpy as shit?”

“I dunno man, but you’ll get it, you’re like, so good at shit like this!” Charlie said, his enthusiasm didn’t show how much of a lie it was, though Charlie didn’t think it was much of a lie. Mac  _ was  _ good at everything in his eyes.

“Yeah, guess you’re right,” Mac grumbled. 

It didn’t take long for them to get to the vacant lot. The pavement was still cracked in spots with grass poking up, but most of the lot was flat enough. Charlie continued to skate backwards, mostly in circles, pulling Mac along. His legs became less and less wobbly over time. 

“Okay dude, I’m gonna let go,” Charlie said. He was grinning brightly, so was Mac, both of them beaming and puffing their chests out with pride.

“Shit, okay, yeah, yeah,” Mac said.

Charlie let go and propelled himself backwards, Mac skated towards him. He had to keep his arms out to his sides to keep himself balanced.

“I got it! I got it!” Mac shouted.

“You got it!” Charlie laughed.

Mac pumped a fist over his head and immediately wobbled again. Charlie immediately lunged forward to grab Mac’s arms, making sure he didn’t fall, the two of them laughing as soon as Mac recovered his balance. 

“It’s cool, you still got it!” Charlie said, letting go again.

“I do, I  _ am  _ good as shit at this!”

“You totally are, dude!” 

“We should find some people to play hockey with,” Mac suggested.

“Maybe… Another day,” Charlie said. Something in him told himself not to tell Mac that he needed more practice before taking his skills out in front of other kids, but Charlie knew that Mac needed more practice. 

“Yeah, you’re right,” Mac said, nodding. “I’m getting hot as shit, we should go back to your place.”

“Yeah, man, let’s go back to my basement. We can see if we still got that glue under my couch.”

“Yeah man, and I bet I can beat your ass in some Hungry Hungry Hippos.” 

Charlie grinned brightly. He was pretty sure Mac picked his favorite game as a thank you, and he was absolutely right. On the way home, the bumpy cement caused Mac to grab Charlie’s hand to keep himself steady. Charlie didn’t mind at all. 


End file.
